Column: Department of VA hospitals government-run disaster

The news is shocking: Patients dying on the waiting list for government-provided health care. But this is not a report from Canada or the British National Health Service. It’s right here in America, in the health system administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The problems first surfaced in Phoenix, where the wait to receive care at VA facilities had grown so long that 1,400 to 1,600 sick veterans were forced to wait months to see a doctor. As many as 40 veterans reportedly died because they couldn’t get the care they needed. VA administrators tried to cover up the problems by establishing secret waiting lists and falsifying reports.

The scandal has now spread to other veteran facilities. VA employees at an outpatient clinic in Fort Collins, Colorado, falsified appointment records to hide that as many as 6,300 veterans treated at the outpatient clinic waited months to be seen for treatment.

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